Blizzard will not be making Diablo into a massively multiplayer game anytime in the near future.

This was confirmed this past weekend by Blizzard staffer and lead content designer Kevin Martens. Speaking with Kotaku at BlizzCon, Martens confirmed that internal talk about the potential for a Diablo MMO had come to a close.

“There’s no discussion about a Diablo MMO anymore,” said Martens. “It was a really interesting idea back when we were into it, but I think Diablo has a really strong fantasy on its own. Having a thousand people playing it with you on a server doesn’t dramatically increase it.”

Martens would go on to express that Blizzard has come to have a deep appreciation for the sort of experience offered by smaller, more focused multiplayer games. “We’ve learned to love the smaller, more focused party experience of four people,” he said. “Some people are like, ‘Why don’t you do five?’ I mean, we could, but kinda built the game around four people in mind. So the temptation of expanding the social circle has fallen by the wayside as we learned more about what we enjoy about Diablo.”

This, of course, wouldn’t be the first time that Blizzard has shot the prospect of turning its non-Warcraft franchises into MMOs. As far back as 2011, the company vetoed the idea of creating a Starcraft-themed MMO. It’s a stance that honestly makes sense. After all, when you already own the most successful MMO in the world, why would you want to potentially split its fan base by creating another competing product?

The PlayStation 4 has done far better than even Sony expected, but at the moment, its customers still pay a little extra for online multiplayer. Unlike the PS3, which allowed anyone with a free account to play online games, PS4 multiplayer is only functional after upgrading to a PS Plus membership. That means quite a few players are missing out on online features from games like Destiny or Diablo III. Thankfully, this weekend will be a rare exception, as Sony unlocks online multiplayer for all PlayStation 4 players, regardless of whether they Plus memberships.

While over 50% of PS4 owners use PS Plus, there are many who have yet to join the service. Not only would this weekend give new console owners a chance to experience online multiplayer for the first time, it could also encourage them to become PS Plus members as well.

Reaper of Souls, the Diablo 3 add-on, makes its console debut in the Ultimate Evil Edition. For players new to the expansion or the vanilla campaign, the demon-hunters of GameFront are here to provide our complete list of secrets, strategy guides, and hidden Easter egg info.

]]>http://www.gamefront.com/diablo-3-reaper-of-souls-ultimate-evil-edition-cheats/feed/0False Advertising in Video Games – Aliens, SimCity and Your Wallethttp://www.gamefront.com/false-advertising-in-video-games-aliens-simcity-and-your-wallet/
http://www.gamefront.com/false-advertising-in-video-games-aliens-simcity-and-your-wallet/#commentsThu, 14 Aug 2014 16:41:52 +0000Ryan Morrisonhttp://www.gamefront.com/?p=281905This article will tell you all about the secret ways to legally get any game you want for free. …Okay,...

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This article will tell you all about the secret ways to legally get any game you want for free.

…Okay, not really. See what I did there? That’s called “false advertising,” and it seems to be a big problem in the gaming industry. Whether it’s a legal problem that will rescue your money from the clutches of those who have wronged you is a different question, but cases accusing game makers of false advertising have certainly become more visible than ever before.

It’s becoming much more popular for game companies to promise the world and deliver New Jersey.

Most of you reading this website have heard some complaints about Alien: Colonial Marines and SimCity. More still probably heard gripes about the problematic launches of SimCity, Diablo III, and Battlefield 4. The list goes on and on, and it’s becoming much more popular for game companies to promise the world and deliver New Jersey. (Shots fired, Jersey.)

First, let’s take a closer look at some of the famous cases that caused online mobs to form. SimCity was a game that I was personally very excited for, which wound up being very disappointing. Launch day was met with an endless list of bugs, downed servers, and the game’s Internet connection requirement (which does not prevent piracy and may be the topic of a future Bar Games article), meaning I couldn’t do much with my product except cry over it. It’s worth mentioning that the game was so broken at launch, Amazon started offering refunds to those who purchased Sim City through its online store. EA did not.

Diablo III was another case of players claiming false advertising on the part of developer Blizzard. Not only was the game’s launch pretty terrible, it also promised player-versus-player combat and never delivered. The Real Money Auction House also didn’t work as promised and turned out to be a bit more game-breaking than Blizzard claimed.

Maybe the most well-known of recent examples is Aliens: Colonial Marines, which was a far different game than what was shown at E3 and PAX East. While it’s arguable whether or not that is “advertising,” it’s clear it reached enough people and made its way around the internet substantially enough that most courts would agree it is. Gearbox shipped a game with worse graphics, a different play style, and less features than advertised, prompting players to file a class action lawsuit against developer Gearbox and publisher Sega. As I write this article, news is actually breaking about this case, as Sega has just offered $1.25 million to settle. Gearbox, however, will continue to defend itself in court. So it appears Sega didn’t want to deal with this headache, and the consumers suing them will get their money back for the game and nothing more. (The attorneys made over $300,000 though….)

So, would the players have won in court? Will Gearbox be victorious in standing up for itself?

A Diablo 3 player has raised his character up past paragon level 1000.

The gamer in question goes by the name of Gabynator and recently shared his accomplishment with the world via his Twitch stream. His climb to this high level was accomplished with a combination of dedication and teamwork. Working with his guild mates, Gabynator would hop into Malthael boss runs set to the game’s hardest difficulty, snag XP and then get out. Repeating the process over and over he was able to more efficiently climb levels.

Reaching level 1000, of course, doesn’t mean that he’s necessarily done. As paragon levels in Diablo 3 have no cap, he could conceivably continue leveling up ad infinitum if he wanted to. Then again, considering the fact that the next highest character in the game hasn’t even broken level 980, we wouldn’t blame him if he was content to just to rest on his laurels.

Rob Pardo of Blizzard Entertainment announced his resignation today as Chief Creative Officer.

Pardo has been with Blizzard for the last 17 years working on a number of games in the Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo franchises. After such a long history of accomplishments in making wildly popular games, he felt that it was simply his time to “pursue the next chapter” in his career.

After 17 years at Blizzard, with long and careful contemplation, I have made a difficult and bittersweet but ultimately exciting decision to pursue the next chapter in my life and career.

Before I even joined Blizzard, I was already a huge fan of the company and its games. In particular, I was extremely passionate about the emerging genre of real-time strategy games. It was a dream come true when I was given the opportunity to work on StarCraft, which at the time was being created by a very small team by today’s standards. It was tremendously fulfilling to get to know everyone on the team personally and to contribute our energies toward a shared goal in such a creative and engaging environment.

Blizzard Entertainment has been simply the best place in the world to be a game designer. The best aspect of designing games at Blizzard is that the entire company is passionate about the gameplay within each and every product. From the executive team to customer service to our global offices, every single person is a player and contributes to making the best possible games. It’s for very good reason that the first credit on every Blizzard game is “Game Design by Blizzard Entertainment.”

I’m really proud of the contributions I was able to make to Blizzard’s accomplishments. From building lasting games, to supporting the growth of eSports, to extending the Warcraft world into a feature film, and of course to being able to celebrate our shared passions with the Blizzard community online and at BlizzCon.

The Blizzard community is ultimately the reason why we come to work every day and pour our souls into every world and experience we create. Blizzard’s players are the most passionate in the world and your commitment and dedication are truly awesome to behold. Creating entertainment for you has been an incredible opportunity, and I know that you will continue to grow and become even stronger as a community over the years to come. It has been so meaningful on a personal level to help create joy for all of you.

I’m looking forward to new challenges in my career, but I will always cherish the time I spent with you all and the amazing and collaborative teams at Blizzard. It was both satisfying and humbling, and it made me a better developer and a better person. I look forward to playing Blizzard games as a player for many years to come. Most important, now I have plenty of time to learn how to build a competitive Hearthstone deck.

As to what I will be doing next, I don’t have an answer for you yet . . . but I will “when it’s ready.” My priorities are to enjoy the summer with my family, play plenty of games, and think about what’s next. The game industry is such an exciting place right now with PC gaming thriving, the new consoles, mobile games, and virtual reality becoming an actual reality. It’s like having an empty quest log and going into a new zone for the first time.

In the past, I haven’t been the most avid Twitter user, but I’ll strive to do better and keep you updated there—@Rob_Pardo. Please stay in touch!

Rob

As a fan of Blizzard and its games, I would like to extend my fondest personal wishes for whatever you do next in your life. You certainly are one of the few folks in this industry who can and does carry the respect from even the most hostile of communities. Namely Blizzard’s own.

I can safely say I’m not the only one who looks forward to see any game you work on next, if that’s the direction you plan on taking.

]]>Diablo 3 ends their 2nd Anniversary with a permanent buff to their Legendary item drop rates.

Diablo 3’s 2nd year anniversary was this past week and Blizzard decided to celebrate the occasion with a present to the players, increasing the Rift Fragment rewards received from bounties as well as a+100% boost to their chance to find Legendary items. The player response went over so well, Blizzard has decided to make the Legendary item drop rate buff permanent.

Game Designer Travis Day took to the forums with the announcement, stating “Due to the over whelming popularity of our Anniversary buff, we have decided to keep the increased Legendary drop rate once the Anniversary ends. Once the buff is disabled… you will find that the new base line drop rate for Legendary items will be the same as those you have all enjoyed last week.”

The buff ended this Thursday morning, at 5:00am EST, and the new drop rate is now active. For loot hunters like myself, this is great news. Over the weekend, I managed to receive seven new gear upgrades from Legendary drops, including an amazing ring set with The Wailing Host and the Litany of the Undaunted. With the 100% drop rate making the game 100% more fun, we might see more loot hunters back in the game to finish gearing up their character. T6 here we come!

]]>http://www.gamefront.com/diablo-3-makes-anniversary-legendary-drop-rate-buff-permanent/feed/0Diablo 3 Dev Team Reveals Their Favorite Easter Eggshttp://www.gamefront.com/diablo-3-dev-team-reveals-their-favorite-easter-eggs/
http://www.gamefront.com/diablo-3-dev-team-reveals-their-favorite-easter-eggs/#commentsThu, 15 May 2014 19:29:08 +0000Stew Shearerhttp://www.gamefront.com/?p=273490Diablo 3’s developers have shared their top six Easter Eggs from the game. Speaking to the Escapist, the Diablo 3...

Diablo 3’s developers have shared their top six Easter Eggs from the game.

Speaking to the Escapist, the Diablo 3 team revealed that their favorite secret from the game was the hidden Whimseyshire level. The area, which employed an entirely different visual style from the rest of the game, was described by the developers as a “reward we gave ourselves for finishing the game.”

Besides Whimseyshire, the rest of the team’s list runs the gamut from silly to sentimental. On the just-for-kicks side, the developers highlighted the existence of a super-rare Louisiana license plate spewed from the gullet a dying mini-boss. Taking a more serious note, however, they also included a rare legendary weapon inspired by Ben Boos, one of the artists for the original Diablo.

“One of the original Diablo artists was named Ben Boos, and he was a driving force for the look and fantasy of weapons in the Diablo universe,” explained the team said, “He was a fantastic artist who really understood his medium, and even published a couple books on the subject before passing away at a young age.”

To honor Boos, they created a special sword for the game by name of Faithful Memory based on his style of weapon design.

The remainder of the list included nods to World of Warcraft inserts as well the mysterious Black Rock Legders which take cues from the TV series Lost. Be sure to check out the full list as well as the development team’s complete commentary in the original article.

]]>http://www.gamefront.com/diablo-3-dev-team-reveals-their-favorite-easter-eggs/feed/0Diablo 3 Celebrates Its Birthday With A Boosthttp://www.gamefront.com/diablo-3-celebrates-its-birthday-with-a-boost/
http://www.gamefront.com/diablo-3-celebrates-its-birthday-with-a-boost/#commentsThu, 15 May 2014 19:06:08 +0000Jeff Millshttp://www.gamefront.com/?p=273481Celebrating its 2 year anniversary, Blizzard is giving a buff to all players increasing the legendary item droprate and double...

Celebrating its 2 year anniversary, Blizzard is giving a buff to all players increasing the legendary item droprate and double the amount of rift fragments rewarded.

From now until Thursday, May 22 at 5 am PDT, your Diablo 3 character will have double the chance of legendaries dropping in your game session. Of course, the best place to get your legendaries is in the Rifts, right? Well, Blizzard was kind enough to double the droprate of rift fragments, too.

The anniversary buff is currently available to every Diablo 3 character on the PC and Mac and is stackable with similar bonuses such as magic find. So, the best time to farm those upgrades for your character(s) is now.

]]>http://www.gamefront.com/diablo-3-celebrates-its-birthday-with-a-boost/feed/0Diablo 3 Patch 2.0.5 is Large and Now Live With More Goldhttp://www.gamefront.com/diablo-3-patch-2-0-5-is-large-and-now-live-with-more-gold/
http://www.gamefront.com/diablo-3-patch-2-0-5-is-large-and-now-live-with-more-gold/#commentsWed, 14 May 2014 15:21:50 +0000Janelle Bonannohttp://www.gamefront.com/?p=273250Blizzard has released Patch 2.0.5 for Diablo III yesterday and it was a major one. It includes a plethora of...

Blizzard has released Patch 2.0.5 for Diablo III yesterday and it was a major one. It includes a plethora of changes to all classes, drastically changing the way some manage the skills that they use. As Blizzard stated in the patch post, these changes reflect a new, ongoing philosophy “To better support character builds based on a specific damage type we are changing the damage type of a few select runes… additional changes may be made in the future to any of our classes to make damage types an interesting consideration for character building.” For example, the Monk has now had many of their physical based skills changed to elemental types with stuns removed, completely revamping the class and gear needs for those stacking armor based physical damage instead of elemental types.

There were many positive changes as well for all classes across the board. Champions and Rares can thankfully no longer spawn with both Plagued and Desecrator at the same time with some of the worst monster affixes limited to no longer spawn with four of them on a single mob. For those into crafting with more legendary mats than you can use, Blizzard has also greatly increased the drop rate of Legendary crafting plans and recipes no longer require specific common armors, replaced with the need for common crafting materials instead. Most important, let’s not forget the all important change to Tyrael, who will now try to tell you about his poor eating habits and eating disorders with slightly less frequency.

Check out the rest of the patch notes below. Which buffs and nerfs will improve or ruin your game?

Increased the radius of “Strength in Numbers” (multiplayer buff) from 100 to 200 yards

Gold Find on items will now stack multiplicatively with the Gold Find bonus provided from game difficulty

This significantly increases the gold reward most players will see when playing on higher difficulty levels or wearing Gold Find gear.

Example: Suppose you are playing on Master (+200% Gold Find) and have 50% Gold Find awarded from items. A pile of gold drops that would normally be 50 gold. Your Difficulty bonus increases the 50 gold to 150 gold. Your 50% Gold Find will now increase the 150 gold to 225 gold.

The 300% Gold Find cap applied to items and Paragon Points has been removed

The Vote Kick system has received several changes to make it less restrictive:

Vote Kicking is now available after you have been in a game for 2 minutes (down from 5 minutes)

To better support character builds based on a specific damage type we are changing the damage type of a few select runes. This is an ongoing goal – additional changes may be made in the future to any of our classes to make damage types an interesting consideration for character building.

Rend is being changed to make the damage more consistent. The difference between getting a Critical Hit or not on Rend made the ability too unpredictable. This is particularly important when the player has the option of reapplying the Damage over Time effect.

Finally, we are buffing the least used Fury spender – Seismic Slam. While there will always be a least used skill, we feel the aesthetic of Seismic Slam is very strong, and we would love for more people to enjoy using it. To this end we are making the skill mechanically easier to use as well as directly buffing the damage.

Rather than rolling for a Critical Hit, Rend will now calculate an average damage augmented by your Critical Hit Chance and Critical Hit Damage on application and apply that damage evenly over the duration of the entire DoT

Note: Since the skill can no longer deal a Critical Hit, it will no longer trigger effects that occur on Critical Hit.

Crusaders should be the toughest class in the game and currently they are not. We’ve increased the 15% damage reduction to 30% to match that of the Monk and Barbarian. In addition we are removing the movement speed penalty on Heavenly Strength while also changing Fervor to be a very strong passive for Crusaders who want to play with a 1-handed weapon. Together these changes should solidify the Crusader fantasy of a powerful tank wielding a giant shield.

To better support character builds based on a specific damage type we are changing the damage type of a few select runes. This is an ongoing goal – additional changes may be made in the future to any of our classes to make damage types an interesting consideration for character building.

Akarat’s Champion has been redesigned. Many of the runes were lackluster while Rally was both too strong but also promoted a style of play that consisted primarily of mashing buttons mindlessly. We’ve redesigned Rally and buffed the skill and all the other runes.

Overall builds that used certain skills such as Judgment – Resolved could do solid damage (though somewhat inconsistent), but if you did not take specific skills or have access to specific Legendary items the damage would fall behind. We are nerfing Judgment – Resolved significantly. A change this large is never easy but this was a mistake we should have caught.

To keep Crusader damage competitive we are buffing most of the Crusader’s damage abilities across the board. While a few skills have come down slightly in damage, the vast majority are being increased, some by a large margin.

Fist of the Heavens and Blessed Shield both fill a similar role of being ranged multi target skills. In order to provide better differentiation we are adjusting Fist of the Heavens to be better at damaging a single target, with the area damage component being a peripheral bonus. To this end the damage of the primary strike of Fist of the Heavens has been increased, while the damage of the secondary bolts has been decreased.

Finally, we have done significant redesign to the Crusader’s passive abilities. We feel there was an overall lack of interesting passive choices on the Crusader. Rather than try to simply change numbers on existing passives we’ve tried to provide interesting and compelling choices.

Demon Hunter survivability is lower than we would like. While the Demon Hunter is not as tough as other classes, this can be frustrating when taken to an extreme. The change to the Awareness passive is a first step; we will be keeping an eye on this and making additional changes as needed in the future. The Marauder’s Set bonuses are attractive, but often the pets would get in each other’s way or Sentries would not use your spenders often enough. To help improve this set’s functionality, Companions have received collision box revisions and the rate at which Sentries use your Hatred spenders has been increased.

To better support character builds based on a specific damage type we are changing the damage type of a few select runes. This is an ongoing goal – additional changes may be made in the future to any of our classes to make damage types an interesting consideration for character building.

We want to give Monks more options for spending their Spirit. The damage on Wave of Light is being increased to encourage its use as an alternative to the existing popular Spirit spenders.

To better support character builds based on a specific damage type we are changing the damage type of a few select runes. This is an ongoing goal – additional changes may be made in the future to any of our classes to make damage types an interesting consideration for character building.

We are changing the way Fetish Sycophants works. Previously it triggered while casting. This caused it to create twice as many fetishes with certain skills such as Firebats (which trigger on-cast effects at double the normal rate), and also create fetishes even when there was no target available. We want to preserve the existing Fetish builds while allow Fetish Sycophants to be combined with all skills in the Witchdoctor arsenal. Fetish Sycophants now works with all skills and triggers on hit rather than on cast. While this means you can no longer get fetishes by simply casting at nothing, you will now get more fetishes if casting against large groups of enemies. In the case of spells other than Firebats, you will generally get more Fetishes than before. In the case of Firebats, you will get less Fetishes than before versus 1-3 targets, and more fetishes than before when facing groups of 5 or more.

Haunt and Locust Swarm are being changed to make the damage more consistent. The difference between getting a Critical Hit or not made these abilities too unpredictable. This is particularly important when the player has the option of reapplying the Damage over Time effect.

The Witchdoctor sometimes had trouble keeping up in a party situation. At the same time, we feel each class should feel unique. To this end we are redesigning Fierce Loyalty to improve the Witchdoctor’s mobility in a uniquely Witchdoctor way.

Rather than rolling for a Critical Hit, Haunt will now calculate an average damage augmented by your Critical Hit Chance and Critical Hit Damage on application and apply that damage evenly over the duration of the entire DoT

Note: Since the skill can no longer deal a Critical Hit, it will no longer trigger effects that occur on Critical Hit

Rather than rolling for a Critical Hit, Locust Swarm will now calculate an average damage augmented by your Critical Hit Chance and Critical Hit Damage on application and apply that damage evenly over the duration of the entire DoT

Note: Since the skill can no longer deal a Critical Hit, it will no longer trigger effects that occur on Critical Hit

To better support character builds based on a specific damage type we are changing the damage type of a few select runes. This is an ongoing goal – additional changes may be made in the future to any of our classes to make damage types an interesting consideration for character building.

Wormhole is by far the most common rune choice on Teleport. While we like the functionality and frequency with which it allows you to cast Teleport, we do not like the frustration it sometimes produces: players are often left clicking wildly, feeling punished for misclicks, or increased frustration if you find yourself up against an obstacle that wastes your second and third Teleport. To improve this experience we are reducing the cooldown on Teleport to 11 seconds and changing Wormhole to only give one additional cast, but increasing the window of time you have to use your second Teleport to 3 seconds. This affords the same number of Teleport casts overall as before while allowing you to be more thoughtful and deliberate about how to use your second Teleport. With the base cooldown on Teleport coming down to 11 seconds, all runes should now be more appealing. While the effect on some runes has been reduced, this should be more than made up for by the reduced cooldown in all cases.

The Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls Ultimate Evil Edition is coming to current and next-gen consoles in August.

Two full years after Diablo III made its debut on the PC, a release date for the next-gen console edition has finally been announced: August 19 is the day that Big Red will arrive on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 in the Diablo III: Reaper of Souls Ultimate Evil Edition, which will include the full version of Diablo III plus all the content included in the Reaper of Souls expansion. The updated game will support co-op action for up to four players on a single screen.

Gamers who preorder the Ultimate Evil Edition will get the Infernal Pauldrons for their trouble and trust, a set of shoulder plates wearable at level one that grants bonuses to Vitality, Life per Second and Cooldown Reduction. Preordering isn’t actually available at this moment, but Blizzard said retailers should have the necessary pages up and running soon.

Diablo III: Reaper of Souls Ultimate Evil Edition will also be released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, to add the expansion content to the base game on those platforms. Look for it to carry a price of $59.99 on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, and $39.99 on the 360 and PS3. In the meantime, if you want to find out more about what Reaper of Souls brings to the table, have a look at out our March review of the PC edition right here.

Tickets for BlizzCon 2014 will go on sale starting tonight (Wednesday) at 7pm PST for a cool $200.

This year, instead of handling ticket sales in house, Blizzard has decided to hand off the sale of tickets to a company called Eventbrite. The purchase system is slightly different this year, and drops you into a “waiting room” during the checkout process.

“After clicking Order Now, you may find yourself in a “waiting room” before you enter the checkout process. Ticket buyers will be sent from the waiting room to checkout in the order they arrived, and there’s no need to refresh your browser. Keep in mind that being in the waiting room doesn’t necessarily mean you’re guaranteed tickets,” the Blog informs.

This new system seems that it could help expedite the purchase of tickets in a timely manner, and allow you to temporarily reserve your ticket. You have a total time of 8 minutes in the “waiting room” to make your purchase. After that period of time expires, you forfeit your ticket reservation to someone else.

If the last 7 BlizzCon events have proven anything, it’s that these tickets will go friggin’ fast. So you’d better hurry to get yours. If you missed your chance in the first batch, Blizzard has already scheduled a second batch this Saturday, May 10th starting at 10am PST.

BlizzCon 2014 will take place on November 7th and 8th at the Anaheim Convention Center.

]]>http://www.gamefront.com/blizzcon-2014-tickets-on-sale-tonight/feed/4Top 10 Best Easter Eggs of All Timehttp://www.gamefront.com/top-10-best-easter-eggs-of-all-time/
http://www.gamefront.com/top-10-best-easter-eggs-of-all-time/#commentsFri, 25 Apr 2014 19:35:42 +0000Mitchell Saltzmanhttp://www.gamefront.com/?p=271063There are lots of great Easter Eggs hidden in games, but some transcend the rest with their depth, mystery, and hilarity. Mitchell runs down his very favorites of all-time.

Sure, little hidden bits of fun called Easter Eggs exist in other forms of media, but there’s something special about the Easter Eggs found in video games that make them stand out above the rest.

While it may be cool to be able to spot a reference to another Marvel character in the new Captain America movie, there’s nothing quite like being able to spot something that seems strange while playing one of your favorite games, following its trail of clues, and then being rewarded for your curiosity with an awesome Easter Egg. That sense of exploration and discovery for Easter Eggs is something unique to video games, and in celebration of that, here are my top 10 best Easter Eggs of all time.

10. Halo 4 – Conan O’Brien Easter Egg

During a segment on Conan O’Brien’s show, he and Andy Richter paid a visit to 343 Industries to record some pretty funny NPC dialogue for Halo 4. As it would turn out, those lines of dialogue could actually be found in the single-player campaign of Halo 4 by finding two specific guards hanging out in a hangar. While not all of the dialogue that was included in the segment made it into the final cut, what did end up in the game was still really funny and well worth seeking out.

9. Diablo 3 – Whimsyshire

A big question on many Diablo fans’ minds going into Diablo 3 was, “How is Blizzard going to top Diablo II’s Cow Level?” The answer? Whimsyshire. Gaining access to Whimsyshire was a gigantic Easter Egg hunt that spanned the entire game, as players needed to collect extremely rare items that were otherwise useless, combine them to create the “Staff of Herding,” and then take the staff to the Cow King in Act 1 in order to open up a portal into the wondrous land of Whimsyshire. What awaited players was a land of colorful rainbows, majestic unicorns, cuddly teddy bears, and smiling clouds. And its your job to murder them all in unspeakable ways.

8. Crysis 2 Elevator Dance Party Easter Egg

I don’t know why this Easter Egg exists, but I’m so glad that it does. In the Dead Man Walking mission of Crysis 2, once you take the elevator up, you can actually interact with a control panel that shows no actual prompt, then head back to the elevator and call it up. When the doors open once again, you’ll find to Cell Soliders have their own little dance party, complete with neon lights and a smoke machine. Why? Who cares, it’s awesome.

7. Batman: Arkham Asylum – Hidden Room that teases Arkham City

It’s pretty incredible in this day and age when a game manages to have a secret that goes undiscovered for a couple of days after release, let alone six months. But that’s how long it took players to find a secret room in Batman: Arkham Asylum that could only be entered by using three explosive gels on a normal looking wall in the Warden’s office. The explosion exposed a hidden room with clues that pointed toward the creation of Arkham City, the setting for the next game in the Arkham series.

]]>http://www.gamefront.com/top-10-best-easter-eggs-of-all-time/feed/4Diablo 3 on PS4: Blizzard Invades Next-Genhttp://www.gamefront.com/diablo-3-on-ps4-blizzard-invades-next-gen/
http://www.gamefront.com/diablo-3-on-ps4-blizzard-invades-next-gen/#commentsThu, 17 Apr 2014 02:43:40 +0000Ron Whitakerhttp://www.gamefront.com/?p=270796Once again, the best version of Diablo 3 is about to appear on a console – this time, it’s the...

Once again, the best version of Diablo 3 is about to appear on a console – this time, it’s the PlayStation 4.

It’s not like Diablo 3 is a new game. It’s already been around long enough to have an expansion out. It also generated some ire from PC gamers who felt that the console version was a far better game than the one released on PC. Those folks may be heard from again soon, because the upcoming PS4 version is bristling with new features that aren’t in the PC release.

First and foremost, there are some new ways to get and trade loot in the PS4 version. You’ll be able to mail items to your friends, so if you find the perfect item for a character you don’t play, at least someone can get some use out of it.

Blizzard is also implementing a new gift system. Whenever you get a legendary drop, there’s a chance that someone on your friends list will receive one as well. It will even tailor its stats to the character your friend decides to open the gift with, courtesy of the Loot 2.0 system.

One other major change to the loot system is a revamp of how looting works in co-op play. Instead of items falling and everyone rushing in to grab them, each drop is tagged for a specific player in the group. No matter who loots the item, it will appear in the tagged player’s inventory. This is a nice change, as it means no more searching through inventories to figure out who accidentally picked up that Witch Doctor item you saw drop.

In fact, there are multiple changes to Diablo 3 on PS4 that are focused around playing the game with your friends. In addition to the co-op loot update, Blizzard is also adding Apprentice Mode. If you’ve ever been playing alongside a friend and one of you has to take a few days off, you can appreciate the benefit of this change. If you join a game with a higher-level friend, your stats will automatically be buffed to allow you to contribute meaningfully, and your experience gain will be buffed slightly to help you catch up. Most importantly, the loot that drops for you will be of your level, so you won’t have to wait to use it.

Another friends list-focused change is the new Nemesis system. This one sounds like it could a lot of fun. You see, when a monster kills you, it doesn’t just wander off for you to kill later. Instead, it levels up, becoming more powerful, and then it saunters off to invade the game of someone on your friends list. Once your friend happens across it, he’ll see a little fanfare informing him that this creature killed you. If your friend manages to defeat it, he’ll receive some extra loot, and as a bonus, you’ll receive a gift in the mail.

However, if your friend fails to kill him, the monster levels up again, and goes in search of a new friend to terrorize. This will continue until someone kills the beast (which becomes increasingly unlikely as it continues to level), or until the monster is so powerful that it simply gives up and retires. If you’re like me, and you’re thinking of all the monsters you could let kill you so as to terrorize your friends, you’re going to enjoy this feature.

The last big addition to Diablo 3 on PS4 is what Blizzard is calling “Action Combat.” Essentially a rework of the bonus system that already exists in the game, this change will allow players to see when the killstreak or destruction bonus they are running up will end, allowing them to continue to chain kills (or smash barrels) to keep the streak going. It also adds a speed boost that triggers whenever you receive a destruction bonus for smashing five or more items.

Aside from these changes, the game that’s coming to PS4 is essentially the same game that’s available on PS3 right now, albeit with some graphical tweaks and upgrades. It plays very much the same, although Blizzard has made some great control additions using the touchpad to speed up accessing frequently used screens like skills and inventory. Also, on-screen player colors will match the color of that player’s light bar on their Dualshock 4. Like the PS3 version, the game will not require a persistent internet connection.

The PS4 version of Diablo 3 still doesn’t have a release date, but I’d expect to see it sometime in 2014, judging by what I was shown at PAX East. It will include all of the Reaper of Souls content as well, and will be marketed as the “Ultimate Evil Edition.”

The disappointing part of all of this Diablo 3 news is that Blizzard wouldn’t comment on whether or not any of these changes will be making their way to the PC version of the game, saying only that they were focused on, “Making a great PS4 version of Diablo 3.” Still, it’s a good bet that we’ll see at least some of these improvements make their way to PC at some point, but honestly, Blizzard can’t afford much of a delay in that. Regardless, it looks like PS4 owners will be getting the best version of Diablo 3 yet.

Ron Whitaker is managing editor at GameFront. Find more of his work here, and follow him and Game Front on Twitter: @ffronw and @gamefrontcom.